The Yankees continue to hear from teams asking about Gary Sheffield, but it doesn’t appear they expect to get a starting pitcher in exchange for the slugger if they pick up his option with the intent of trading him.

That’s why they are open to seeing what soon-to-be free agent right-hander Jeff Suppan, who played a big part in the Cardinals’ improbable journey to a World Series title, is looking for.

“His name is on their list of pitching possibilities,” a member of another organization told The Post yesterday.

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Hey, I wonder if it was Suppan’s agent who told King that the Yankees were interested in his client. Hmm, maybe. After all, EVERY available pitcher is on the Yankees’ radar. They need at least one starting pitcher, and the candidates are Matsuzaka, Zito, Schmidt, and at the very bottom of the list Suppan (or someone in a trade). There’s simply NO WAY, in my opinion, that Cashman would bring a guy like Suppan in unless he was dirt cheap. He’s a mediocre pitcher who only had “success” (and it did come with quotation marks) in the NL. He’s durable, but he’ll probably have a 5 ERA in the AL.

I think the Yankees’ interest is ranked this way: 1. Matsuzaka, 2. Zito, 3. (someone they can trade for — Willis, etc.), a distant 4. Schmidt, a distant 5. (and maybe not at all, because his stuff is so average) Suppan.

Again, just my opinion, but I’d be shocked — shocked! — if the Yankees went after Suppan.

Signing Suppan would be a worse mistake than the Pavano and Wright signings were at the time of their signings.

It is very likely that Suppan’s ERA would jump to close to 5 because of the AL-NL switch, but that possibility is even more likely given that he would be switching from a very good defensive team to an average (at best) defensive team. Suppan, if anything, absolutely needs a great defense behind him given that his K rate is under 5 per 9 innings.

I just don’t believe that the Cashman-led Yankees would be so stupid. This does not even mention the fact that Suppan is going to cost about $10 million a year.

I think the Yankees should follow the same pattern next year which they did successfully last season.

They need to wait until the trade deadline to pickup a player who can have an impact down the stretch and in the playoffs. Hopefully, injuries won’t be such a big factor and the Yankees can pickup a big game pitcher.